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Definition of scaffolding in US English:

scaffolding

noun

1A temporary structure on the outside of a building, made usually of wooden planks and metal poles, used by workers while building, repairing, or cleaning the building.

‘During construction, these planks were suspended on scaffolding while concrete floors and columns were poured around them.’

‘As more and more people crowded on to wooden and steel terraces which resembled nothing more than glorified scaffolding, the structures began to sway, and stresses were placed on steel joints which they were not designed to bear.’

‘The station on Drove Road currently resembles a building site, after work-men erected scaffolding around the 44-year-old tower.’

‘Cocooned in scaffolding and planks, Manchester's majestic John Rylands Library is undergoing a facelift that will see it restored to its original glory, albeit with some modern touches.’

‘A scaffolding pole came crashing in through the rear window, spearing between Caroline and Astor and exiting through the windscreen.’

‘The walls rotate around me and further on I can see what looks like an angled metal structure, kind of like metal scaffolding, but with an angled purposeful design.’

‘In some cases there have been reports of scaffolding poles being thrown through windscreens of fire engines, crews being attacked by concrete blocks, being shot at and equipment being tampered with.’

‘The scaffolding from a building that was being repaired from Ivan was sheered off and tossed into a nearby visitor center.’

‘Solutions were also needed to solve problems of working inside the old building, such as setting wooden letterboxes into the walls to slide scaffolding poles inside, as these could not be brought through the front door.’

‘The court was told Francis claimed he had seen a couple of people with machetes or metal scaffolding poles.’

‘A worker was seriously injured on Friday after falling 30 ft from scaffolding outside a house in Melksham.’

‘Were these holes cut to support wooden beams for scaffolding?’

‘The scaffolding outside the window of his office at Edinburgh's St Andrew's House brings to mind the phrase ‘Work in progress - wear a political hard hat’.’

‘A 19-year-old man has died after falling from a roof on to scaffolding at a building site in Colchester.’

‘The oil company began as a contractor for larger companies, servicing pipes and building scaffolding, before expanding into exploration.’

‘During the early hours of Sunday vandals overturned the towering scaffolding outside the school, causing flags and poles to crash into the road.’

‘And no one was hurt at Boston's Fenway Park today when temporary scaffolding collapsed.’

‘It is also excellent for use in temporary facilities such as scaffolding, staging, job shacks and other job-site structures that are not normally protected against fire.’

‘Construction work is still being completed on the other floors and scaffolding still surrounds the building.’

‘But the construction work went ahead anyway - with the loss of the lives of two workmen when scaffolding collapsed and the stone they were working on fell on them.’

1.1The materials used in scaffolding.

‘One way the new nanotubes can be customized is by using them as scaffolding for other materials.’

‘Mr Allen spent six weeks in intensive care after the accident when scaffolding being carried in a truck smashed through the windscreen of his Fosseway Coaches bus.’

‘Materials have included 28,000-ft of scaffolding weighing 72 tonnes, 300 kg of plaster and 880 litres of pink and cream paint.’

‘It has been created out of scaffolding and is clad with plywood covered in a mesh fabric.’

‘As a building material, bamboo is still commonly used today in Hong Kong in two main ways: as scaffolding for construction and for small temporary structures.’

‘Portable buildings, truck loads of scaffolding, compressors, mini-diggers and a gang of men wearing hard hats and fluorescent jackets took over the site in January.’